One Chance
by Phantom Traveler
Summary: It's a tough road, becomming independant and starting your own life. It's even harder when obstacles keep getting thrown in your way. For Monny, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, it's the begining of finding themselves and what their true calling really is.


Chapter one

_History. History of Magic. If there is ever a choice for taking this class, Professor Binns will be out of a job. It has to be the most boring and pointless subject in the history of the world._

Sirius glanced around the room. James Potter was sleeping; drool slowly leaked out of his mouth. Severus Snape was drawing pictures of wizards being tortured and Peter Pettigrew was biting his nails, as usual. Lily Evans and Remus Lupin were the only people trying to pay attention to the old man's droning. They both had their heads down, vigorously writing everything down, their elbows bumping occasionally against the others.

_Lily and Remus, the perfect couple. They're both so smart and ambitious and they pay attention... When they walk around the lake holding hands I want to wring their necks for being so perfect! That was a dark place..._

Sirius glanced up at Professor Binns, making sure he hadn't changed his teaching method of never looking up at his students. Of course he hadn't. Sirius saw a tuft of messy dark hair out of the corner of his eye.

_Poor Prongs._

Both Remus and James had had a crush on Lily Evans. James had absolutely no problem with walking up to her and asking her out. The only problem was that she had refused him. To make matters worse, Remus had asked her out later the same day. To Remus' delight, and James' horror, Lily obliged.

_Maybe James would have had a better chance of Lily saying "yes" to him if he wouldn't have asked her out in front of the whole school while hanging Snivellus from his ankles in mid-air._

Remus and James, only three weeks into their sixth year, had already had a row.

_I wish those two knuckle heads would make up already. The full moon is coming up this weekend and I want to..._

"Mr Black!" the Professors suddenly sharp voice broke Sirius from his trance.

"Huh?" Sirius started.

"Mr. Black! I've asked you a question!" exclaimed the Professor.

"Oh...ya. I don't know." replied Sirius, trying to keep his cool. Not that anyone was paying attention anyway.

"You don't know?" asked Binns, raising his eyebrows.

"Nope."

The class was starting to stir from their dazed, or in some cases, sleeping, state. Their internal clocks told them that the sixty minute class was almost over.

"Does anyone know when our test is?" Binns asked, exasperated.

At the word "test", the class began to groan. Lily quickly raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss Evans?" asked Binns.

"Three days from now, on Monday." she recited.

Remus smiled at her and Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Correct!" the Professor replied, "You have the whole weekend to study! I hope you've been taking plenty of notes since the beginning of the year!"

Sirius glanced down at his notebook. It was open to the very first page with three words written across the top: _History of Magic._

_I guess I should have been writing stuff down this year. Remus isn't going to give me any of his notes until James forgives him, or I stop taking James' side._

The bell rang.

"Study hard!" shouted Binns as everyone gathered up their books.

"James," said Sirius, standing up at stretching. James didn't move, his head remaining on the desk, drool still leaking out of his mouth.

"James!" he tried again. Nothing.

Sirius lowered his mouth to James' ear.

"JAMES!" yelled Sirius, slapping him across the head.

"Ow!" shouted James, sitting up. "That hurt!"

"Do you mean the fact that Sirius almost broke your eardrum, or that he slapped you across the head?" asked Remus, as she stalked over, carrying his and Lily's books. Lily was right behind him, an uncomfortable look on her face. She had been present during James and Remus' fight. James quickly wiped the spit off of his face.

"Both," grumbled James, scowling at Remus. He quickly gathered his books and walked out of the classroom. Sirius was at his heels.

"James, slow down! God, man!" Sirius called after him. James slowed down and let him catch up. "Does that count as talking to him? Can I get his notes for the test?"

"No, that-" James started to shout. He saw Remus and Lily coming towards them from the History of Magic classroom. He glared at them when they walked by. After they had turned to the corner, James continued. "No, that does not count as talking to him! We'll just have to wing it like almost everybody else!"

"OK! Quit being so explosive!" said Sirius, raising his arms in defeat.

"What class do we have next?" asked James through clenched teeth.

"Think about who you're talking to, there mate." Sirius pointed out.

"Right," said James, digging through his papers. "Here it is. Oh, we're done for today. Is it three already?"

"I guess so." replied Sirius, turning towards the grand staircase. James followed him, stuffing his timetable back among the mess that was his schoolwork. As they walked up the last staircase to the Gryffindor common room, they met Remus and Lily going the other way.

"Where are you going?" asked Sirius. "The common room is that way."

"Why would you care?" asked Remus, not bothering to even slow down.

"There was a message on the bulletin board for prefects to go to the great hall," called Lily, over her shoulder.

"Remus looks really bad doesn't he?" Sirius asked James.

"Sure." replied James, continuing up the stairs.

Up close, Remus' skin was pale and gaunt.

_You sure don't need a calendar to know when the full moon is approaching. Poor Moony, I guess he'll just have Peter for company this time._

"Hey, Prongs?"

"Huh?" asked James, reciting the password for the Fat Lady.

"Are we gonna transform tomorrow night?" Sirius ventured, following James into the common room. Everyone in the room looked at them, then quickly returned to their work, noticing the angered look on James' face.

"Of course." replied James, continuing up the stairs to their dorm room.

"Really?" asked Sirius, surprised," Awesome! I'll go tell Moony..."

"What?" exclaimed James, turning towards Sirius. "Why? We're not going _with_ him!"

"But..."

"We're not going with Remus, he made it through before we became animagus, he'll be fine now, too." James said angrily.

"You know, James, this is getting old!" Sirius shouted. Everyone in the common room stopped what they were doing and one third year even looked up the stairs. Sirius glared at him until he left, then turned back to James. "It's not like you didn't try! You asked her and she said "no". Remus deserves a chance for a happy life! He's got enough problems without you shoving this down his throat! I' sick of being stuck between you two!"

James glared at Sirius, stormed into their dormitory and slammed the door. Sirius growled in a very dog-like way and stormed down the stairs to the common room. The first and second years were staring at him and the third years were trying hard not to. He strode towards the sofa and the fourth years sitting there immediately got up and out of the way. James and Sirius were highly respected by Gryffindors and even the seventh years would give them their desired seat. Sirius flopped down on the couch and shoved his hand under the cushion by his head and pulled out a quidditch magazine.

_House elves will leave anything if you bribe them properly._

Sirius flipped absent mindedly through the magazine, trying to focus on quidditch.

_I just don't understand James sometimes! He's the most carefree, outgoing guy, but damn can he hold a grudge! I just don't understand what's so special about Lily Evans! _

The portrait hole opened and Peter walked into the common room. He looked nervous, although, he usually looked that way.

"Where have you been?" asked Sirius.

"Umm...nowhere." said Peter, his hand twitching up to his face.

"Well, what have you been doing all this time?" pushed Sirius.

"Nothing, I uh...just got lost on the way to the common room." confessed Peter. "I took a wrong turn on the second floor."

"Peter, Peter, Peter," sighed Sirius," you've been going to this school for five years, and you still don't know how to get to the common room from the grand staircase."

A few girls in the room giggled. Sirius rewarded them with a quick grin, which made them giggle even more. Peter chuckled nervously and started towards the dormitories.

"I wouldn't go up there," cautioned Sirius, " James seems really mad."

"Oh," said Peter," then I'll just go to the, uh, library."

Peter switched directions to retrace his steps.

"See ya later." said Sirius.

Peter smiled nervously and left. Sirius shook his head and turned back to his magazine, but soon lost interest. He put the magazine back under the couch along with a piece of cloth from his pocket. The house elves were always collecting bits of fabric to sew for their clothes.

Sirius sat up and looked around the room.

_Studying, first years, boring, studying - doesn't anyone play games around here anymore!_

Sirius decided to go up to the dormitory and see if James had cooled down yet. He pushed open the door marked 6th years and walked over to James' curtain drawn bed. He pulled open the curtains and found James sleeping.

"James," said Sirius.

James didn't move. Sirius put his hand flat over James' face, almost touching it.

"Prongsy-poo!" he said.

James still didn't move.

_He must really be sleeping! He hates that name!_

Sirius moved his hand slowly away from James' face. He looked at the clock, 4:27 p.m.

_Who in the hell falls asleep at 4:30 in the afternoon? That guy has major problems!_

Sirius went over to his bed and lay down, staring at the ceiling. Without any of his friends, Sirius was lost. Remus could always read a book, and James seemed to get along with everyone. Sirius was different. He was outgoing and obnoxious when he was with his friends, but without James or Remus, he was actually shy. Sirius got up and went over to Remus' things. He found Remus' schoolwork and began to rummage through it until he found the History of Magic notes. Sirius smiled.

_Good old Moony! Never smart enough to remember that he's friends with people who are famous for being snoopy and meddlesome. _

Sirius quickly preformed a copying spell on Remus' notes and made an extra copy for James. Even though Sirius and James were pranksters, they took great pride in their marks. The two boys had some of the top marks in the school. If Remus or Lily had higher marks than them in three classes, Sirius and James would have the higher marks in three different classes. What enraged most people about that was Sirius and James didn't have to try to get good marks. They goofed off in class, but always seemed to get top marks in assignments and tests. The other students, like Remus and Lily, had to spend hours studying to achieve good grades. Sirius didn't understand how they did it - spending time studying instead of just living life. Sirius put Remus' history notes back where he found them and stood up. He put his copy in his nightstand drawer, and the other on James' chest , so he would find them when he woke up. With nothing left to do, Sirius took his last resort. He went to find Peter in the library.


End file.
